The Last Wars of the Kingdom of Judah

Abstract

in the ancient Orient. These repercussions are especially apparent in cAbar-Nahar, the region between the Euphrates an(t the Sinai Peninsula, which was always sensitive to political changes in the East, 1)ecause of its geopolitical position. Judah 'and her neighbors had enjoyed a temporary respite during Assyria's decline, but now again they became a bone of contention, this time between Egypt and Babylonia. Each of these countries considered herself Assyria's heir in cAbar-Nahar, and each wished to set up a sphere of influence in this buffer-state region. The beginning of Judah's liberation from the Assyrian yoke can be traced to the murder of King Amon (II Kings 21: 23), who had been loyal to his Assyrian overlords (II Chron. 33:22-23). The coup d' tat of the court, the object of which was obviously political and anti-Assyrian,' took place in the year 640-39.2 This event can be understood, perhaps, as an event in the general Western uprising against Ashurbanipal, incited by tribes of Arabs. The king of Assyria still had enough military power to suppress the rebellion. He ended a military campaign by a march to the shore of Palestine and Phoenicia and severely punished the rebellious Ushu and Akko.3 Perhaps the counter-coup d'6tat of the cAm Ha ares of Judah, in which all the conspirators against Amon (II Kings 21:24) were put to death, came to forestall a retribution against Judah by the Assyrian king. It is possible also that Samaria, the Assyrian province, joined this revolt, if the exile of foreign residents to Samaria by Ashurbanipal (the biblical Asenapper), referred to in Ezra 4:9-10, came as a reaction to an uprising in that country and if this incident can be relegated to the period under discussion.4 It is not unlikely that the beginning of the Egyptian siege on Ashdod, the heart of an Assyrian province, belongs to this period. According to Herodotus (ii. 157), Ashdod was conquered by Pharaoh Psamtik after a siege of twenty-nine years, which ended, if our hypothesis is correct, in the years 611/10, at the end of the reign of Psamtik. At any rate, we cannot assume a later date for the siege of Ashdod if we accept Herodotus as a reliable source, and he usually is competent for this period.5 On the other hand, the year 640/39 is especially plausible when fitting this incident into the reign of Psamtik. If the above-mentioned arguments can be proved, they confront us with a new Assyrian-Egyptian-Judaean synchronization and attest to increased military activity in Palestine in 640/39.6 The first public appearance of the Kingom of Judah on the stage of the new in-